An outbreak of contagious agalactia in sheep

Abstract

The present study was aimed for the confirmatory diagnosis of contagious agalactia syndrome in sheep herds belonging to Ibrahimpatnam and Mylavaram mandals of Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh. A total of 37 clinical samples were collected from the affected sheep with a history of keratoconjuctivitis, corneal opacity, arthritis, anorexia and mastitis without any reports of mortality. The symptoms of the affected sheep were preliminarily suggestive of Mycoplasmal infections. An attempt was made for confirming the organism based on genotypic characterization by employing molecular based technique, polymerase chain reaction using mycoplasma group specific primers for a quick diagnosis. All the 37 samples were processed for DNA extraction by employing high salt DNA extraction method and phenol chloroform method. Amplification of the mycoplasma gene produced an amplicon product size of 270bp indicating 100% positivity to Mycoplasma infection among the herd.